Tag Archives: death

So, President Obama has decided not to release Osama Bin Laden’s death photos even after there has been a public and media outcry for proof. By all professional accounts, the type of wounds inflicted upon Bin Laden would make viewing his corpse disturbing, to say the least. Most reports advise the photos would be downright gruesome. For that reason, I support the President’s decision.

What public good could come from releasing the photos? This operation was not a Hollywood production. The body is not going to be in the pristine condition we have been conditioned to seeing from the entertainment industry’s depiction of war. The blood in the pictures is real. The trauma to the body is real and far more graphic than any Hollywood make-up artist could imagine. Are these images we want children to see? Even if media and Internet outlets warn of their graphic nature prior to showing, how many kids would turn away or resist the urge to click on the link? How many adults would? After viewing the photos and being left with their lasting images, then what? Would 9/11 never have happened? Will the countless lives lost suddenly be erased? Or, would it simply enflame the already heightened tensions between the United States and al-Qaida? Would it provide more fuel to their dogma, increase enrollment in their training camps, and provide even more inspiration for them to destroy America and everything for which she stands. The purpose of capturing Bin Laden was to make the world a safer place, not more dangerous. I think the images of us celebrating his death in the streets is enough; there is no need to release his death photos.

Conspiracy theorists will continue to doubt the government and the President. They have already proven this by their insistence for the release of the long form of his birth certificate then doubting its authenticity once he relented to their demands. If the Bin Laden photos were released, I’m sure they would then insist they were doctored, pointing to absurd notions like the way the blood pooled on the carpets to bed sheet wrinkles. Note: You do know that there are those who insist 9/11 was a government ruse even though there was live coverage of the event. Guess what, THEY insist the photos of the planes making impact upon the Twin Towers are doctored.

There is no way to please everyone. The President, the Leader of the Free World, has to always consider the better good in his decisions. And this decision not to release Bin Laden’s death photos is good.